a bit of the back story here. my husband and I had lived in that house for 7 years, but had never really been concerned with watering the yard until this past spring. the grass, or lack thereof, very quickly became a priority when we found out we would need to sell the house. we had lived there for 7 years. we had watered here and there, but never consistently. we didn’t feel we had the time, nor did we want to run up the water bill. once a year in the spring my husband usually made a feeble attempt to put down seed, fertilizer, and/or weed killer, or some combination of the three. and then the rest of the year we joked about how we didn’t really have to mow the grass, we just had to mow the weeds. because that’s all that grew in our yard. WEEDS.
so back to the real point of this blog entry. as I was setting up the sprinkler to water
the yard that morning, I realized that for the first time in 7 years, we
actually had GRASS growing in our yard.
hmmmmm. who would have thought
that in order for grass to grow, you actually have to water it?!!! what we had
been trying to do was to kill and prevent the weeds. all that time we could have saved the money we
spent on seed and fertilizer if we had just given the yard water! those of you who are regular gardeners are
laughing at this point like, DUH! but I
do NOT have a green thumb so this was a true revelation to me.
and then it hit me.
my kids are the same way. if I
don’t take the time and effort to water them, all that will grow in their lives
is weeds. and I think that is where our
society is today. we have too many
children who are “growing like weeds.” children will grow up whether they are cared
for or not. the problem is, if they are
not being fed and watered and given the care and nurturing they so desperately
need, they will not thrive. and I'm not just talking about food here, true heart nourishment. so many
children in our society are raising themselves.
but even in good homes, parents are becoming more and more selfish and
not truly investing in their children in the short time that they are in their
homes. too many parents are just
trying to make sure their kids “turn out ok.”
too many of us are doing nothing more than reacting to the bad stuff in
their lives, or trying to prevent it. we
must do more if we expect them to grow and flourish. we must water them.
and the water our children need only comes from one source –
Jesus. we must make sure we are
continually pouring God’s Word and God’s love into them. we must tend to them. we must take them to Jesus on our knees. and we must take Jesus to them – teach them
His Word, love them patiently, deeply, sacrificially. we must also realize that in their lives
there will be seasons where nothing seems to be growing. everything will look as though it is
dead. it may even seem as though all hope
is lost. but we must keep teaching. keep praying.
keep loving. keep watering.
“If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has
said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” (John 7:38)
“But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law
he meditates day and night. He is like a
tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose
leaf does not wither. Whatever he does
prospers.” (Psalms 1:2-3)
